Cootling-bar for railroad cars



W. D- CHESTNUT;

, Car Coupling." A

No. 3,445. v v I Patented'feb. 2 0, 1844;

"m'm. wnovo-mupempnin. WASHINGTON. u c.

onrrnln sra'rnsrarsnr OFFICE.

WM. D. GHESNUT, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE,

COUPLING-BAR son RAILROAD cans, LOCOMOTIVES, 800.

I Specification of Letters Patent No.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM DICH Es- NUT, of ilmington, in the county of Newembrace the coupling bolt,.and saidjaws are so arranged as that they may play freely. to the distance requiredby the l'curvature of theroad, but that they shall openand free the coupling bar from the bolt, should one of the connected vehicles run off the track, or be, from any cause, made to deviate to a greater distance from a right line than is due tothe curvature of the road; whenever such deviation takes place, a pin, or some analogous device is brought up against a check piece under the platform of the car, or, where a platform is not used, by a check piece otherwise situated near the coupling bolt, and the jaws being thereby opened, the coupling bar will be liberated.

Inthe accompanying drawing, A, Figure 1, may represent the platform of a car, B, a couplingbolt, and C, a coupling bar held by said bolt, which passes through a hole similar to that seen at D,.atthe end C, of the bar, the two ends beingsimilarly con structed. E, E, is a spring which bears against the side of the bar Gland constitutes one side of the hole D. The. coupling bar and spring. are tobe, in general, so formed that by forcingthe endof .it against a coupling bolt,,the coupling will be efiected; as will be seen by supposing B, to be such a bolt. F, is a pin which isintended to liberate the coupling, by causing the jaws to open. "In.

this figure, the pin F, is shown as having its inner end bearing against a lever a, shown in dotted lines; and if pressure be made upon this pimthe spring IE, will be forced open by said lever. G, is a check piece affixed under the platform at such distance 3,445, datedFebruary 20, 1844.

from the pin F, as to prevent their coming into contact under the usual lateral motion of the bar C; but should a greater deviation take place, the pin F, will then be brought into contactwith the check piece, the spring E, will be forced back, and the coupling bar will escape from the bolt. Fig. 2, represents a clip of metal, '6, made fast to the bar C, and embracing the spring E, which piece Z2, performs thesame oflice with the pin F.

In'Fig. 3, I have shown a bar difiering,

somewhat, in form from the foregoing, but

the same in operation with that represented in F ig. 1. 1H, H, are two jaws, connected byjoint pinsat c; I, is a pin which passes through the jaw H, and has its inner end attached to ,thejaw H; a spiralflspring d, surrounds the pin I, bears against its head, and against the inner side of the jaw H,

and forces the two together; but when the 1 head of the pin I, bears against the check piece G, the jaws will be opened. a

I have thus shown diiferentways in which the apparatus may be formed, so as to cause the jaws toopen by the pressure of the coupling bar against the check piece; and these forms may be otherwise varied without changing the principle of action. I do not intend, therefore, to limit myself in this particular by theforegoing description, but merely to afford eXemplification of different modes of constructing the same thing.

Havingthus described the nature of my invention, and t explained the manner in which the same operates, what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Let ters Patent, is

The so arranging of the bar C, the spring E, the pin'F, and the check piece Gr, as that the jaw shall be opened when one of the i i cars deviates from the track; the respective parts being connected with each other, and

operating substantially in the manner herein set forth. I

WM. n. CHESNUT.

lVitnesses THos. F. JONES, EDWIN L, Bnuunaonz 

